I do not write full time. I have a job as a wildlife surveyor that pays the bills; I have a very active eight year old daughter who enjoys ice-skating, ballet, swimming, gymnastics and all manner of other activities; and I play in a band (that’s the third R so more of that later).
In Many Ways is my first book and I am not well versed in the ways of publishing. The offer to publish from Raven Crest Books was unexpected and the time from that offer to the launch was remarkably short – eBooks do not need the gestation period of their paper cousins. So, I began this adventure with a huge learning curve to go through.
So, this week I have been mostly juggling – time that is, as opposed to balls, fiery torches or small furry animals.
In order to learn fast and try and get the book to sell, I have been reading. All week I read blogs, books, twitter feeds, Facebook, web pages, customer reviews, emails, and texts. The information has swarmed over me as if I was a honeycomb and it was bees. I’ve had a couple of stings to contend with as well. Twitter – frustrating and rewarding in almost equal measure, but scammers and spammers abound, so great care is needed when accepting followers. I have learned a huge amount – but I have so much further to go!
I may not be a full-time writer, but it appears I have become a writer. My next novel is now 57,000 words long and I added about 6,000 of those this past week. I have also written this blog, along with lots of tweets, Facebook updates and replies (and created a dedicated page for In Many Ways), emails both personal and work related and texts.
And so to the unnoficial third R. On Friday I played a gig at a biker’s rally with my band Illicit Still. It was enormous fun and we got a great reaction from the crowd. There can be few more rewarding feelings than the sight and sound of a crowd punching the air and singing along with you. Magic.
I sign off this blog with a plea to help me with the juggling and efforts to improve my three R’s. If you do me the great honour of buying the book, let me know what you think of it, and if you like it, tell other people too. Click the ‘Like’ buttons on the Amazon and Facebook pages for the book, and if you have the time, leave a review. Oh, and if you get the chance, maybe you can come along to a gig and punch the air with the rest of the crowd!
Now, where are those plates….
